Remember People Express ? New Airline Hopes People Rememeber

People Express may fly again. Investors are seeking government approval for a new People Express Airlines that would carry the same name as the popular 1980s airline.

The original People Express airline quickly became one of the biggest in the U.S. in the 1980s before it was folded into Continental

The original is considered to be the first no-frills carrier. It quickly became one of the biggest airlines in the U.S. before it was folded into Continental.

“The brand is iconic, and what people know and remember about it is low fares, great service and high frequency into markets that didn’t have existing service,” says Mike Morisi, the start-up’s president and COO. “I think what we’ve identified is an opportunity to replicate that again.”

Morisi, who worked at the old People Express, emphasized that the airline will be a new company using the PEOPLExpress brand, not a re-start of the original airline. The goal for the start-up, which is based in Newport News, Va., is to launch service by the end of summer to several cities in the Northeast and Florida, including Pittsburgh, Providence and West Palm Beach, Fla.

But this won’t be your parent’s People Express.

Rather than repeat the fees and no-frills service that the first People Express pioneered and that other carriers have since copied, the new namesake plans to let fliers check their bags for free and get complimentary snacks on board.

But the new People Express is trying to take flight at a time that megamergers of the industry’s biggest carriers threaten to quash competition. It’s also a time many smaller carriers are struggling. Direct Air and regional carrier Pinnacle Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection in recent weeks….